U.S. patent number 8,757,612 [Application Number 13/891,155] was granted by the patent office on 2014-06-24 for paper feeding mechanism.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.. The grantee listed for this patent is Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.. Invention is credited to Ping-Fang Tsai.
United States Patent |
8,757,612 |
Tsai |
June 24, 2014 |
Paper feeding mechanism
Abstract
A paper feeding mechanism includes a paper cassette, a feeding
roller, a baffle, and a paper separating apparatus. The paper
cassette stores stacks of paper. The feeding roller pulls a sheet
of paper from the paper cassette and feeds the sheet of paper into
a paper transport path. The baffle is located at a side of the
paper cassette. The paper separating apparatus is mounted to the
baffle and prevents more than one sheet of paper from being fed
into the paper transport path at a time.
Inventors: |
Tsai; Ping-Fang (New Taipei,
TW) |
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd. |
New Taipei |
N/A |
TW |
|
|
Assignee: |
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co.,
Ltd. (New Taipei, TW)
|
Family
ID: |
49755173 |
Appl.
No.: |
13/891,155 |
Filed: |
May 9, 2013 |
Prior Publication Data
|
|
|
|
Document
Identifier |
Publication Date |
|
US 20130334765 A1 |
Dec 19, 2013 |
|
Foreign Application Priority Data
|
|
|
|
|
Jun 14, 2012 [TW] |
|
|
101121418 A |
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
271/121;
271/167 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B65H
3/0684 (20130101); B65H 1/08 (20130101); B65H
1/266 (20130101); B65H 3/34 (20130101); B65H
3/56 (20130101); B65H 2404/56 (20130101); B65H
2404/5512 (20130101); B65H 2405/1136 (20130101); B65H
2404/5511 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
B65H
3/52 (20060101); B65H 3/34 (20060101) |
Field of
Search: |
;271/121,167 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Joerger; Kaitlin
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Novak Druce Connolly Bove + Quigg
LLP
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A paper feeding mechanism, comprising: a paper cassette adapted
to store stacks of paper, a feeding roller adapted to pull a sheet
of paper from the paper cassette and feed the sheet of paper into a
paper transport path; a baffle located at a side of the paper
cassette; and a paper separating apparatus mounted to the baffle
and adapted to prevent more than one sheet of paper from being fed
into the paper transport path at a time; wherein the paper
separating apparatus comprises a securing plate attached to an
upper surface of the baffle, a rubber pad located between and
sandwiched by the securing plate and the upper surface of the
baffle, and an isolating medium located between and sandwiched by
the securing plate and the rubber pad.
2. The paper feeding mechanism of claim 1, wherein the securing
plate defines an opening, the rubber pad comprises a main body and
a rib protruding from the main body and extending out of the
opening of the securing plate.
3. The paper feeding mechanism of claim 2, wherein the opening and
the rib are elongated an extending direction along the paper
transport path.
4. The paper feeding mechanism of claim 2, wherein the opening is
defined at a middle portion of the securing plate.
5. The paper feeding mechanism of claim 1, wherein the securing
plate is made from plastic material.
6. The paper feeding mechanism of claim 1, wherein two flanges are
bent from two opposite edges of the securing plate and abut against
the upper surface of the baffle.
7. The paper feeding mechanism of claim 6, wherein two wings are
bent from two opposite edges of the rubber pad and contact with the
upper surface of the baffle.
8. The paper feeding mechanism of claim 7, wherein the isolating
medium comprises two isolating pieces located at two opposite sides
of the rib of the rubber pad.
9. The paper feeding mechanism of claim 8, wherein each of the two
isolating pieces is a polyester film.
10. A paper feeding mechanism, comprising: a paper cassette adapted
to store stacks of paper, a baffle located at a side of the paper
cassette; a feeding roller adapted to pull a sheet of paper from
the paper cassette and transfer the sheet of paper to the baffle;
and a paper separating apparatus mounted to an upper surface of the
baffle, wherein the paper separating apparatus comprises a securing
plate attached to an upper surface of the baffle and a rubber pad
located between and sandwiched by the securing plate and the upper
surface of the baffle, the securing plate defines an opening, and
the rubber pad comprises a rib extending out of the opening;
wherein the opening and the rib are elongated an extending
direction along the paper transport path, the paper separating
apparatus further comprises an isolating medium located between and
sandwiched by the securing plate and the rubber pad.
11. The paper feeding mechanism of claim 10, wherein the opening is
defined at a middle portion of the securing plate.
12. The paper feeding mechanism of claim 10, wherein the isolating
medium comprises two isolating pieces located at two opposite sides
of the rib of the rubber pad.
13. The paper feeding mechanism of claim 12, wherein each of the
two isolating pieces is a polyester film.
14. The paper feeding mechanism of claim 10, wherein the securing
plate is made from plastic material.
15. The paper feeding mechanism of claim 10, wherein two flanges
are bent from two opposite edges of the securing plate and abut
against the upper surface of the baffle.
16. The paper feeding mechanism of claim 10, wherein two wings are
bent from two opposite edges of the rubber pad and contact with the
upper surface of the baffle.
Description
REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application claims all benefits accruing under 35 U.S.C.
.sctn.119 from Taiwan Patent Application No. 101121418, filed on
Jun. 14, 2012 in the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office, the
contents of the Taiwan Application are hereby incorporated by
reference.
BACKGROUND
1. Technical Field
The present disclosure generally relates to image formation
devices, and particularly relates to a paper feeding mechanism of a
printer.
2. Description of Related Art
A printer typically includes a paper cassette for storing stacks of
paper. A feeding roller pulls paper from the paper cassette and
feeds the paper into a paper transport path. However, the feeding
roller can sometimes pull more than one sheet of paper from the
paper cassette at a time, resulting in paper jams.
Therefore, there is room for improvement within the art.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Many aspects of the embodiments can be better understood with
reference to the following drawings. The components in the drawings
are not necessarily drawn to scale, the emphasis instead being
placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the embodiments.
Moreover, in the drawings, like reference numerals designate
corresponding parts throughout the several views.
FIG. 1 is an isometric view of an embodiment of a paper feeding
mechanism of a printer.
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the paper feeding mechanism of
FIG. 1.
FIG. 3 is an exploded, isometric view of a paper separating
apparatus of the paper feeding mechanism of FIG. 1.
FIG. 4 is an assembled view of the paper separating apparatus of
FIG. 3.
FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along a line V-V of the
paper separating apparatus of FIG. 4.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
The disclosure is illustrated by way of example and not by way of
limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings in which
like references indicate similar elements. It should be noted that
references to "an" or "one" embodiment in this disclosure are not
necessarily to the same embodiment, and such references mean "at
least one."
FIGS. 1 and 2 show an embodiment of a paper feeding mechanism of a
printer. The paper feeding mechanism includes a paper cassette 10,
a baffle 20, at least one paper separating member 30, and a feeding
roller 40. The paper cassette 10 can store stacks of paper. The
paper feeding mechanism further includes a conveying roller 50
located above the baffle 20.
The baffle 20 is located at a side of the paper cassette 10. The
baffle 20 is oblique relative to a bottom plate of the paper
cassette 10. A sheet of paper can be pulled from the paper cassette
10 by the feeding roller 40, moved towards and across the baffle
20, and finally fed into a paper transport path by the conveying
roller 50.
The feeding roller 40 is located above the paper cassette 10. The
feeding roller 40 is movable relative to the paper cassette 10.
FIG. 2 shows that when the feeding roller 40 is instructed to feed
a sheet of paper from the paper cassette 10, the feeding roller 40
moves towards the bottom plate of the paper cassette 10 until the
feeding roller 40 contacts the top sheet of paper stored in the
paper cassette 10. The feeding roller 40 then rotates to produce a
friction force to drive the top sheet of paper to move towards the
baffle 20.
The paper separating apparatus 30 is mounted to the baffle 20. The
paper separating apparatus 30 can prevent more than one sheet of
paper from being fed into the paper transport path at a time. FIGS.
3-5 show that the paper separating apparatus 30 includes a securing
plate 31 and a rubber pad 32. The securing plate 31 is attached to
an upper surface of the baffle 20. The rubber pad 32 is located
between and sandwiched by the securing plate 31 and the upper
surface of the baffle 20. An outer surface of the securing plate 31
is smooth so that the paper separating apparatus 30 can facilitate
movement of the sheet of paper passing across the separating
apparatus 30. In one embodiment, the securing plate 31 is made from
plastic material.
The securing plate 31 defines an opening 311. The opening 311 is
elongated an extending direction along the paper transport path.
Two flanges 312 are bent from two opposite edges of the securing
plate 311 and abut against the upper surface of the baffle 20.
Thus, the paper separating apparatus 30 together with the baffle 20
form a receiving space. In one embodiment, the opening 311 is
defined at a middle portion of the securing plate 31.
The rubber pad 32 is received in the receiving space between the
paper separating apparatus 30 and the baffle 20. The rubber pad 32
includes a main body 321 and a rib 322. The rib 322 protrudes from
an outer side of the main body 321 and extends out of the opening
311 of the securing plate 31 of the paper separating apparatus 30.
The rib 322 is elongated an extending direction along the paper
transport path. Two wings 323 are bent from two opposite edges of
the rubber pad 32 and contact the upper surface of the baffle
20.
Because the paper sheets are stacked in the paper cassette 10, the
feeding roller 40 may sometimes pull more than one sheet of paper
from the paper cassette 10. If more than one sheet of paper is
picked up and transferred to the baffle 20, the bottom sheet of
paper will contact the rib 322 of the rubber pad 32. The friction
force produced between the rib 322 and the bottom sheet of paper
prevents the bottom sheet of paper from moving. The other sheets of
paper will not be affected by either the friction force produced by
the rib 322 or the friction force produced by the feeding roller
40. Thus, only the top sheet of paper can be fed into the paper
transport path.
In some embodiments, the paper separating apparatus 30 further
includes an isolating medium 33. The isolating medium 33 is located
between and sandwiched by the securing plate 31 and the rubber pad
32. The isolating medium 33 includes two isolating pieces 331. The
two isolating pieces 331 are located at two opposite sides of the
rib 322 of the rubber pad 32. The isolating medium 33 can prevent
the rubber pad 32 from sticking to the securing plate 31. In one
embodiment, each of the two isolating pieces 331 is a polyester
film.
It is to be understood, however, that even though numerous
characteristics and advantages have been set forth in the foregoing
description of embodiments, together with details of the structures
and functions of the embodiments, the disclosure is illustrative
only and changes may be made in detail, especially in the matters
of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of
the disclosure to the full extent indicated by the broad general
meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are
expressed.
* * * * *